


Patience Janson-Summers and the awful(ly embarrassing) truth

by LectorEl



Series: Patience Verse [2]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Patience Janson-Summers, Pru and Tim had a baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-24
Updated: 2012-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/618072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LectorEl/pseuds/LectorEl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Patience would like to know how the hell this is her life, and when exactly she took the wrong turn out of the sane, normal world where her parents are not hiding the secret of their dark pasts from her. Because seriously, Mom? You actually killed people? We all suspected it, but really?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patience Janson-Summers and the awful(ly embarrassing) truth

Patience was too clever for her own good, her dad always said, sighing as he fished her out of the creek or climbed up to rescue her from the tree she’d got up but couldn’t figure out how to get down. Mom would cackle with laughter over that. “She’s definitely your daughter, Timmy.”

“Shut up, Pru,” Dad would say, and he’d get this little smile that tucked up in the corner of his mouth.

Patience paused and swallowed the last mouthful of tea from her mug. Mom and Dad’s ‘old friend’ Ra’s waited patiently for her to begin again.

“Mom and Dad, they were really in love, you know?” Patience asked, drumming an absent-minded pattern on her thigh. “You could see it. They were happy together. We used to get so much shit ‘cause Mom was the gun nut and Dad stayed home to take care of me. But they never let it bug them. Well, okay, Mom may have done a few things in retaliation that were a teensy bit illegal…”

Ra’s shook his head, smiling. “Your mother hasn’t changed at all since she worked for me.”

“Yeaaah,” Patience said, drawing the word out, “About that. Mom said to call you if she and Dad ever disappeared. Dad said to call you if he and Mom ever turned up _dead_. My parents have always been weird, but this is way beyond even the normal crazy that goes on with them. I don’t have a clue what’s going on. They’re just…gone.” Her voice wobbled dangerously, and she swallowed back tears. She was not going to break down. Crisis management time _now_ , fall apart and cry time _later_.

Ra’s cupped her shoulder, and crouched to look her in the eye. “It will be alright, Patience. I promised your father I would see that you were cared for if anything ever happened to him, and I will keep my word.”

“I just want to know what’s going on. Why would anyone even bother going after my parents? The worst thing they done is…” Patience trailed off. “Did Mom kill someone? Important, I mean.”

Ra’s’ shoulders shook with the force of repressed laughter. “Yes, actually,” Ra’s told her, amusement radiating from him.

“I’m not as surprised as I want to be about that,” Patience admitted. She drew her legs up loosely to her chest, blinking back a fresh wave of tears. “So Mom and Dad got…kidnapped, abducted, whatever, ‘cause Mom pissed someone off?”

“Or your father did.”

Patience gave Ra’s an incredulous look, arching her eyebrows up. “ _Dad_? Are we even talking about the same person? He does tech support for the options clearing corporation, for godssake. The wildest he gets is when he decides to start experimenting with coding and stays up three days in a row.”

“Retirement did suit him,” Ra’s agreed, looking fond. “But your father was a force to behold before your birth.”

“If you try to tell me Dad was a spy or something, I’m going to laugh myself sick.”

“A vigilante, actually. From Gotham.”

Patience stared blankly for several moments, than rose from her chair. “Tea. This is definitely a situation that needs more tea.” She retreated to the kitchen, where the familiar ritual of brewing took over. Boil water, measure out tea, add to strainer, put strainer in tea pot, added hot water…she automatically got out a second cup and the tin of cookies Dad reserved for visitors, adding them to the tray along with the pot, which she carried back into the living room.

“It’s black tea, with peach in it. Want any?” she offered, still going through the well ingrained role of polite host. Ra’s inclined his head.

“Please.” She poured the tea and slid two cookies onto the saucer before handing it over to Ra’s, retreating to the couch with her own cup.

Patience cradled her cup in her hands, allowing the heat to sink into her joints. “Okay, so. Dad’s an ex-vigilante, and Mom was-what? A hit-woman?”

“An assassin.” Ra’s took a sip of his tea, ignoring Patience’s incredulous look.

“And they somehow got together and retired to Dallas to have a baby,” Patience finished for him. “Jesus- _fucking_ -christ. I’m the protagonist of a B-grade young adult novel.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Patience-Verse Drabbles](https://archiveofourown.org/works/631335) by [C_R_Scott](https://archiveofourown.org/users/C_R_Scott/pseuds/C_R_Scott)




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